Chapter 7 Chapter 4 That Email

After reading the e-mail for the last time, Gabrielle looked at the clock: one hour to go. Now that the meteorite had been successfully pulled out of the ice, the head of NASA felt less nervous.Everything is clearing up, he thought to himself as he walked across the dome toward Michael Tolland's workspace, now we're invincible. Ekstrom arrives at Tolland's workplace and learns that Tolland's documentary is nearing completion.He came to the north wall again, and found that the "press release area" in the residence ball had already been cleaned up, and he felt encouraged.A large piece of blue carpet is already on the ice shelf

The upper bunk is spread out, and in the center of the carpet is a long conference table with many microphones. The background curtain is a NASA flag and a huge American flag.In order to achieve visual impact, they transported the meteorite on a colored sled and placed it in a prominent position right in front of the conference table. There was a festive atmosphere in the press release area.Extron walked back into the shadows, watching with contentment as the crew gathered around the illuminated meteorite, toasting their drinks.He felt like a father at Christmas, watching his children have fun under the tree.

God behold, they deserved this moment, Extron thought to himself, unaware of the disaster that lay ahead. The weather gradually changed. As if mournfully foreshadowing an impending war, the downwind howled mournfully as it slapped the Delta Force makeshift shed violently.Delta-2 stared intently at the live video feed from the tiny robot. "You'd better look at this," he said. Under the guidance of Delta 2, Delta 1 carefully inspected the dark ice cave filled with meltwater from the glacier.He saw something, and it made him recoil in shock, "That's..." Delta 3 walked over to take a look, and was also shocked, "My God, is that the ice cave where meteorites are mined? Is that what should happen on the water?"

"No," said Delta One, "surely not." Rachel Sexton's conversation with the president is brisk and direct.As Rachel raved about NASA's discovery and the choice to have Michael Tolland, a charismatic celebrity, be the spokesperson, the President looked pleased but not surprised.The president has a gentle disposition and a witty conversation. "I'm sure you think so too," Herney said, his tone more serious than before. "In an ideal world, the implications of this discovery would actually be purely scientific," he paused. For a moment, lean forward and fill your face

Filling the screen, "Unfortunately, we don't live in an ideal world, and once I announce this remarkable achievement from NASA, it will become a political football." "Considering the overwhelming evidence and the formidable persons you have brought to testify, I cannot think of anything the public or any of your opponents can do but accept this finding as a fait accompli." Herney almost smiled wryly. "My political opponents do believe what they see, Rachel. My concern is that they won't like what they see." "That's the way the game is. All they have to do is stoke skepticism, rumors that this discovery is some kind of political hoax concocted by NASA and the White House, and all of a sudden, I'm facing someone else's investigation. The newspapers will forget that NASA has found evidence of extraterrestrial life, and that the media will focus on undiscovered evidence of a conspiracy. Sadly, any insinuation of this discovery as a conspiracy is not good for science It’s not good for the government, it’s not good for NASA, it’s not good for the country, quite frankly.”

That's why the president delayed announcing the results.He wanted to present the data in an irrefutable manner, nip any doubts in the bud, and allow the discovery to be celebrated with the pristine dignity it deserved.NASA deserves the same honor. Although Rachel had vaguely guessed the president's purpose for calling her to the North Pole, but when the president said that he wanted her to give a brief report to the president's working team on the situation in the North Pole, Rachel was still shocked .Considering her unique status, Rachel wanted to refuse, but Rachel felt that she was gradually attracted by the president's humble and kind attitude.And even three thousand miles away, Rachel could feel the president's willpower seeping through the television screen.She also knew that whether she wanted it or not, it was a reasonable request.

Before accepting the president's request, Rachel put forward some conditions. She would meet with the president's staff in private, without any reporters.This is just a non-public briefing, and no external publicity will be made. Before Rachel had time to catch her breath, the President told Rachel to stay where she was and make the briefing via videoconference, which would begin immediately.Rachel wanted to say something more, but the president had flipped the switch. For a moment, there was nothing on the screen in front of Rachel.When the image reappeared on the screen, Rachel was looking at one of the most unsettling images she had ever seen.What appeared in front of her was the Oval Office of the President in the White House. The office was crowded with people and there was only room left to stand.The entire White House staff seemed to be there, and Rachel immediately felt nervous.

From the looks on the faces of the White House officials, it was clear that they were as surprised to see Rachel as she was to see them. "Ms. Sexton!" someone yelled gruffly. Rachel searched among the group and found the man who had spoken.It was a tall, lanky woman sitting in the front row—Marjorie Tench.Even in the crowd, her distinctive appearance will be recognized at a glance. "Thank you for joining us, Ms. Sexton," Marjorie Tench said, seemingly smug. "The President says you have something to tell us?" Immersed in darkness, paleontologist Weli Ming sat alone in his private work area, meditating quietly.His gaze swept across the sojourn ball, and he saw that under the dazzling TV spotlight not far away, a celebration was about to kick off.He was not much interested in parties, and traveled in the sojourn sphere in the opposite direction.

Ming saw that the ice cave where the meteorite was mined was ahead-the most spectacular fossil in human history was salvaged from there.The huge metal tripod has now been put away, leaving only a solitary pool surrounded by A circle of cone-shaped road markings, like some kind of pothole carved out of a vast icy parking lot.Ming Xin walked to the other side of the ice cave, stood at a safe distance, and squinted at the icy pool of water that was two hundred feet deep.The pool will freeze back in no time, wiping out any trace of anyone's presence here. This piece of water is so beautiful, Ming thought.Even in the darkness, the beauty remains undiminished.

Especially at night. Thinking of this, Ming hesitated.Then, the patch of water caught his attention. something is wrong. When Ming moved to a closer place and stared at the water there intently, he felt that the previous sense of satisfaction suddenly disappeared, and the whole person suddenly fell into a vortex of doubts.He blinked, stared intently at the water again, and then immediately turned his gaze to the other side of the dome...to the crowd celebrating victory in the press area fifty yards away.He knew that under the darkness of night, it was impossible for them to see him who was far away here.

Should I tell others about this situation? Ming looked at the water again, wondering what he should tell them.Could it be his hallucination?Is it some kind of weird reflex? Unable to be sure, Ming stepped over the cone-shaped signpost and squatted down on the edge of the pool.The water line was four feet below the ice, so he bent down to get a better view.Sure enough, there is one situation that is really weird.It was impossible to ignore the situation, but it was only visible when the lights in the dome went out. Ming stood up.Someone must know about this.He planned to run to the news release area quickly, but he stopped suddenly after taking a few steps.God!He turned around and turned back to the pool, suddenly realized, his eyes widened in shock.He had just figured out what was going on. "Impossible!" Ming suddenly shouted. However, knowing that that is the only explanation.Thinking about it carefully, he told himself, there must be a more reasonable explanation than this.But the more he thought about it, the more convinced he was of what he saw.There is no other explanation at all!Min couldn't believe that NASA and Corky Mallinson had inexplicably failed to notice this startling situation, but he didn't whine for the moment. Now that's Werley Ming's discovery! Min, shaking with excitement, ran to a nearby work area to find a beaker.All he needs is a small water sample.No one will believe this is true! "As an intelligence liaison to the White House," Rachel Sexton said, trying not to shake her voice when she spoke to the crowd on the monitor, "I have a responsibility to travel to political hotspots around the world and analyze Various instabilities and reported to the President and administration officials." Sweat began to break out on Rachel's forehead, and as she wiped the sweat away, she cursed inwardly that the President had pushed the briefing to her without warning. When she was too nervous to talk about it, Rachel thought about one of her mother's main tenets in life—no matter the outcome, all challenges can be overcome by telling the truth.So, overcoming the psychological pressure, Rachel began to tell the staff of the White House about the situation in the North Pole. "The situation is like this," Rachel said calmly and clearly, "a scientific discovery has been made at a place called the Milne Ice Shelf in the high Arctic. The world proclaims it. This discovery is due to a tireless group of Americans, and I'm talking about NASA." “As an intelligence worker who specializes in analyzing and validating data, I was one of many people called in by the President to investigate NASA data. I consulted with several experts, both official and unofficial, both male and female In this matter, the professional standards of these experts cannot be doubted, and the ideological realm cannot be influenced by political power, and I have personally conducted investigations. From a professional point of view, the data I am about to show you are authentic and credible in terms of sources. Introduced without prejudice. Furthermore, I personally believe that the President, who is truly committed to his duty and to the American people, has shown admirable care and restraint in delaying the announcement of this discovery, which I knew he intended to go to. We made it public in a week." Rachel saw the officers look at each other on the screen in front of them.They all turned their eyes back to her, and Rachel knew that she had everyone's attention. "Ladies and gentlemen, you are about to hear, as I'm sure you will, one of the most exciting news ever to come out of this office." The aerial view sent to Delta Force by the tiny robots currently hovering in the sojourn sphere looks like it could win an avant-garde movie award—the dim lights, the gleaming ice caves where meteorites were mined, and the lying On the ice, a well-dressed Asian, his camel hair coat spread out like a pair of huge wings.Apparently, he was trying to take some water samples. Seeing this situation, Delta One resolutely decided to play it by ear. Weli Ming lay prone next to the ice cave where meteorites were mined, and stretched his right arm to the edge of the ice cave to take a water sample.Immediately afterwards, without any warning, something extremely inexplicable happened.A tiny metal object flew through the night sky like a bullet fired from a gun chamber.Ming only saw it for a moment, and then it hit him in the right eye. The human instinct to protect the eyes is innate and deeply ingrained, so even though Min thought any jerky movement might throw him off balance, he flinched back.Since the center of gravity of the body is all inclined to the front, the only support Suddenly disappeared, and Weli Ming fell headlong into the dark ice cave.The icy water rushed to his chest and back, and he was submerged under the pressure of the biting cold. Gabrielle Ash came to Easter's appointment door, but no one contacted her after waiting for a long time.Gabrielle concluded that her informant was getting cold feet, and she was about to leave when an agent in the guard room took her away. Michael Tolan's biological clock was readjusted after two days of not seeing the sun.Although the watch showed evening, Tolland's body insisted that it was midnight.Now that he's finished the final edit of the documentary, he's exhausted and in no mood to celebrate.He looked around for Rachel, but she was clearly still on the phone with the president. At this moment, Tolland was alone in the night, remembering the forgotten past. Celia Birch was Tolland's graduate sweetheart.One Valentine's Day, Tolland took her to her favorite restaurant.The waiter brought Celia's dessert, which turned out to be a rose and a diamond ring.Immediately, Celia understood everything.With tears in her eyes, she said only one sentence, and that sentence made Michael Toland experience the greatest happiness in his life. "I would." However, the sweet married life did not last long, Celia suffered from lymphoma, terminal.Celia and Tolland visited countless clinics and hospitals and consulted many specialists, but the result was the same: no cure. On a fine Sunday morning in June, Celia died.Michael Tolland felt like a steamship being yanked out of its mooring and thrown into rough seas, drifting at will, his compass shattered.For several weeks, he was uncontrollably depressed.His friends wanted to help, but his pride made him unable to bear their pity. You have a choice, he finally realized, work or die. Once Tolland had made up his mind, he dropped everything else and devoted himself to the work of "The Wonderful Sea." At this time, the ice cave where meteorites were mined loomed in front of Tolan, pulling him back from the painful fantasy.He swept away the depression caused by those past events, and walked to the ice cave.In this dark dome, the water that melts from the ice caves takes on an almost dreamlike beauty.The surface of the water was shimmering, like a pond full of moonlight.His eyes were drawn to the dots of light on the surface of the water, as if someone had sprinkled blue-green gems on the water.He stared at the twilight for a long time. The light looks a little weird. On the other side of the sojourn sphere, Rachel Sexton stepped out of the field safety communication system mobile home into the night.She was satisfied with the briefings she gave to government officials. Rachel walked toward the conspicuous press area, weaving her way through the crowd like a fraternity girl.She wondered where Michael Tolland had gone. Corky Mallinson suddenly appeared behind her and led her to Tolland, who was standing on the edge of the ice cave where the meteorites were mined.They were surprised to see little blue-green lights shining on the water, like a layer of small particles of neon gas floating on the water.They look like green objects beating regularly, which makes people feel beautiful. Tolland picked up a piece of broken ice from the glacier and threw it into the water.The surface of the water phosphoresces as soon as it touches the ice, and burns with a sudden splash of green water. "Mike," Corky said, looking disturbed, "please tell me you know what that is." Tolan frowned and said, "I know exactly what that is. The question is how can there be such a thing here." "There are dinoflagellates here," Tolland said, staring intently at the gleaming water. Tolland's assertion immediately stirred up waves.Although he knew that dinoflagellates that could emit light by themselves should not have appeared in the water here.That meteorite was buried under a glacier—that's fresh water from snowfall.The water in the ice cave is meltwater from glaciers, and it has been frozen for three hundred years.It is impossible for marine life to enter it.In this regard, Tolan had to find the only reasonable explanation: there should be a crack somewhere under the ice cave, and the plankton must have entered through a crack in the ice that can seep into the sea. into this ice cave. If Tolland's claim is true, then Nora Manger's glacier data is very suspicious.Rachel looked at Tolland and said, "I think all ice dating is based on the integrity of the glacier. Didn't Dr. Manger say there are no cracks or fissures in this glacier?" Corky frowned, "It seems that the Glacier Queen messed up the matter." Just don't say that too loudly, Rachel thought to herself, or a handful of ice picks will fly behind you. Tolland stroked his chin, staring at the phosphorescent creatures. "There's really no other explanation. There must be cracks. Glaciers pressing on the ocean's surface must have squeezed plankton-rich water into the ice caves above. inside." What a big crack, Rachel thought.If the ice here is three hundred feet thick, and the ice cave is two hundred feet deep, then the hypothetical crack would have to penetrate a hundred feet of solid ice.Nora Manger's body-center test of the ice showed no cracks. "Do me a favor," Tolland said to Corky, "get Nora. I hope she knows something about this glacier, but she hasn't told us yet. Get Min and maybe he can tell us about it." What's that little glowing thing." Out on the ice shelf, Delta One struggled with the controls, trying to keep the damaged microrobot flying above the group gathered around the ice cave.Hearing the conversation on the ice shelf below, he knew things would be cleared up soon. "Call the commander," he said, "we've got a serious problem." That Eastman agent actually led Gabrielle into the White House.Agents led her through passages and into more secluded parts of the building.At this point, they entered a room that Gabrielle had only seen in books and on TV.Her breathing suddenly became rapid. Jesus, this is the map room! I'm about to enter the West Wing... The agent led her to the end of a carpeted corridor and stopped at an unmarked door.He knocked on the door.Gabrielle's heart was pounding now. "The door is unlocked," someone yelled from inside. The agent pushed open the door and gestured for Gabrielle to enter. Gabrielle walked in.The curtains were drawn, and the room was dimly lit.She faintly saw a figure sitting at the desk in the darkness. "Ms. Ash?" came the man's voice from behind a puff of cigarette smoke. "Welcome." As Gabrielle's eyes adjusted to the darkness, she gradually recognized the familiar face and felt a wave of uneasiness and a tense muscle in surprise.Is this the guy who keeps emailing me? "Thank you for coming," said Marjorie Tench, her voice icy. "Ms. Tench...?" Gabrielle stammered, not daring to breathe. "Call me Marjorie," the hideous woman stood up, blowing a puff of smoke from her nostrils like a dragon, "we'll be best friends in no time." Nora Manger stood on the edge of the ice cave with Tolland, Rachel, and Corky, staring intently at the dark ice cave. "Mike," she said, "you're smart, but you're ridiculous. There's no bioluminescence here." Tolland now wishes he had remembered to take some video.The bioluminescence had started to fade as early as Corky went to Nora and Min.Within a minute or two, all light was gone. Nora emphasized: "This ice cave is closed. It is a sealed freshwater ecological environment, and it is impossible for any marine plankton to come here!" Tolland insisted that there were cracks in the ice cave.When the workers were mining the meteorite, the meteorite was heated.Perhaps the plankton were instinctively attracted to the temporarily warmer environment in the ice cave.Hearing this, Nora watched him with a kind of sad contempt in her eyes. "Gentlemen! We're standing above sea level now," she said, stamping her foot on the ice shelf. "See? This ice sheet is a hundred feet above sea level. Do you remember this ice That big cliff at the end? We're higher than the sea. If there's a crack in this ice cave, water will just flow out of the ice cave, not in. That's called gravity." Still, Tolland insisted that he had seen bioluminescence in water before.In order to convince Tolan, Nora huffed towards a nearby storage room, preparing to fetch some tools, "I'm going to actually take a water sample to prove to you that there is no marine plankton in this water—no matter what Dead or alive!" Rachel and the others watched as Nora took a sample of the glacier's meltwater with a sterile pipette attached to a string.Nora put a few drops of water on a small instrument that looked like a tiny telescope, and then, squinting through the eyepiece, pointed the instrument at the bright light on the other side of the dome.After a few seconds, she cursed. Instruments showed 3 percent salinity, and detected G-polyhedron, a type of plankton that glaciologists often see in the ocean beneath ice shelves, in the glacier's meltwater. " At this moment, the head of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration appeared in the night.Hearing that there might be a problem with the glacier data, Extron was furious. "That's absolutely impossible. The glacier doesn't have any cracks. Scans from the Polar Orbiting Density Scan satellite confirm this. The meteorite is sealed within a solid body of ice." "In addition," Ekstrom said, "Dr. Manger's ice body core specimen also confirmed that this is a solid glacier." "Actually," said Rachel, whose courage to speak surprised even herself, "there's another possibility." Out of the most unlikely of things she could remember, she suddenly thought of a fitting one. Explanation. At this time, everyone was staring at her, showing suspicion without any concealment. Rachel smiled. "There's a pretty plausible explanation for the presence of salt and plankton." She gave Tolland a wry look, and said, "Frankly, Mike, I'm surprised you didn't think of that. " "Plankton frozen in the glacier?" Corky Mallinson seemed completely unacceptable to Rachel's explanation. The guy was still flashing at us just now, you forgot?" "Honestly," Tolland said, giving Rachel a particularly admiring look, "she has a point. Ecologically forced, many species enter a state of suspended animation. I once played an episode about this A program of unique phenomena.” "Frozen plankton," continued Rachel, excited that Michael Toland was so interested in her idea, "that would explain everything we're seeing now. Somewhere in the past At this moment, the glacier may have cracked a gap, filled with plankton-rich seawater, and then froze. What if there are many small pieces of sea ice in this glacier? What if the sea ice inside What about frozen plankton? Imagine if you were lifting that heated meteorite out of the ice, and the meteorite went through a small piece of sea ice. The sea ice already melted, Wake the plankton out of hibernation and mix the freshwater here with a small amount of salt." "Oh, for God's sake!" exclaimed Nora in hostility and pain, "everyone is a glaciologist all of a sudden!" Corky looked equally skeptical. "Didn't the Polar Orbiting Density Scan Satellite find any sea ice when it did the density scan? After all, sea ice doesn't have the same density as freshwater ice." Rachel explained that polar-orbiting density-scanning satellites, when scanning from an altitude of 120 miles, probably don't have the resolution needed to distinguish between sea ice and freshwater ice.This was confirmed by Commissioner Extron. But Nora rejected Rachel's view with scientific explanation. "Salt water crevasses only occur in seasonal ice -- the ice that forms in one season and melts in another. The Milne Ice Shelf is in the stable ice -- the ice that's in the iceberg and it's moving. It is stable until the iceberg calves and falls into the sea. Although the frozen plankton can temporarily explain this incredible but insignificant peculiarity, I can guarantee that there is no network of frozen ice hidden in this glacier. living plankton." Everyone fell silent again, as if no one could convince the other. However, Rachel clearly knew the seriousness of the matter.Just one small error in the data NASA presented tonight could cast doubt on the credibility of the entire discovery, including the authenticity of the fossils.If the public got wind that NASA had intentionally shown questionable ice core data, they would immediately wonder what else NASA had lied about. Nora stepped forward, her eyes sparkling. "My ice core data will never be a problem." She turned to the director of NASA and asked for proof that no sea ice was separated anywhere in the ice shelf.In order to ensure safety, the director asked Tolan, Corky and Rachel to go with Nora.The director's tone cannot be refuted, "When we do this, we want to ensure that there are no accidents as much as possible. I don't want anything to happen in the two hours before the most important press conference in NASA history. Accident." Sitting in Marjorie Tench's smoky office, Gabrielle Ashe was uneasy.What exactly does this woman want me to do?Behind the only desk in the room, Tench reclined in a chair.There seemed to be a kind of pleasure in Gabrielle's ugly face at the sight of Gabrielle's embarrassment. Tench sent Gabrielle an anonymous email, giving her a lot of information about NASA, which made Gabrielle angry.However, in Tench's view, this was merely helping Senator Sexton to strengthen his anti-NASA stance. While speaking, Tench stood up suddenly, and his overly slender body suddenly stood upright in this cramped room.With a cigarette in her mouth, she walked to a safe against the wall, took out a thick manila envelope, returned to her desk, and sat down again. "Ms. Ashe, whether you know it or not, you are embroiled in a rivalry that has been raging in Washington since 1996, in secret." Such an opening statement was completely beyond Gabrielle's expectations, "I'm sorry, what did you say?" Tench first mentioned a bill called the Space Commercialization Advancement Act.This bill actually confirms that NASA has not even accomplished a single meaningful thing since humans landed on the moon.The bill calls for the immediate sale of NASA's assets to private airlines for cheap, allowing the free market system to step in to explore space more efficiently, relieve NASA of the burden it now places on taxpayers, and achieve national aerospace bureau privatization.In Tench's view, if Sexton was president, he would definitely approve of this bill.He preferred privatization to American tax dollars to fund space exploration.The result of allowing the private sector to operate space freely is chaos.If the bill is passed, the pioneers flocking to space will not be top scientists, but entrepreneurs with rich pockets and empty heads. Gabrielle fought hard to defend Senator Sexton's dignity.At this time, Tench turned the topic to Sexton's expenditure on media advertising.She insinuated that Sexton used his wife's estate to support his huge expenses.Gabrielle felt that Tench's words were not credible, so she started to leave. Tench coughed violently, then reached for the bulging manila envelope.She pulled out a small stack of stapled papers and handed it to Gabrielle. "Here are Sexton's financial records." Gabrielle examined the receipts with a moment of astonishment.The records from many years ago are here.Although Gabrielle had no knowledge of Sexton's internal financial operations, she felt the numbers were real—bank deposits, credit card current accounts, loans, equity holdings, real estate, debt, capital gains. and loss. "This is confidential material, where did you get it?" "Where I got this information is none of your business. But if you take a moment to study the figures, it becomes clear that Senator Sexton did not have as much money as he is currently spending. After Catherine's death ,Sexton squandered most of her estate on bad investments and personal pleasures, and he bought people's hearts to make his candidate primary look like a sure thing. In reality, your candidate went bankrupt half a year ago gone." Tench alluded to Sexton accepting illegal donations, and Gabrielle felt that it was Tench's absurd subjective speculation, "I think Senator Sexton accepted the huge bribe you said, I should know of." Tench smiled coldly: "Gabrielle, I know Senator Sexton has told you many things, but I dare say that you don't know this man well enough." Gabrielle stood up: "The conversation is over." "Instead," Tench said, taking the rest of the envelope out of the envelope and spreading it out on the table, "this conversation is just getting started."